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ACT Veterans Cycling Club
Carnegie Caulfield Criterium
Eastern Suburbs CC Group Handicap
Murwillumbah Amateur Cycle Club Road Race
Caesar's Illawarra Cycle Club Criterium
Randwick Botany Cycling Club
Tasmanian Carnivals - number 1
Ten lap wamr up scratch race 1 Ashley Sked 2 Mark Stephenson 3 John Mungoven 4 Bruce Fraser 5 Peter McLennan 6 Bill Frost Ten lap scratch race 1 Ashley Sked 2 Mark Stephenson 3 Peter McLennan 4 Bill Frost 5 John Mungoven 6 Bruce Fraser Four lap handicap race 1 John Mungoven 2 Bruce Fraser 3 Mark Stephenson 4 Ashley Sked 5 Bill Frost 6 Peter McLennan
Melbourne Cup Day Tuesday, November 6, a public holiday for most in our sports mad town, but not the sort of weather that made it worthwhile having a day off. Damp for the early part of the day, the rain finally cleared for the second of this season's AFL Park Crits. Better numbers this week, but once the weather turns permanently for the better big fields will result.
Eight A Grade riders and ten from B Grade rode together for their 45 minute race. While they were competing for separate prizes, the competitiveness of the riders present ensured a tough race. Attacks came thick and fast, but there was always riders ready to chase and counter attack: no A Grade rider wants to be beaten by the B Grade boys; and the B Grade riders want to test themselves against the Elite.
Despite strong looking attacks from Chris Bradford, Thaddeus Roos and Ray Turner in the closing minutes, a bunch sprint was the order of the day. Fittingly, the first four riders over the line were from A Grade, followed by four from B Grade, making the judges job a little simpler!
Roos was a clear winner, from 2001 Forges Wheelrace winner Warren Knevitt, John Claxton and Dean Johnstone.
The B grade field was lead home by Champion Under 17 rider Michael Ford, showing the leg speed that Junior track gears brings. Ian Smith, fresh from the Tour of Bright took second from Damien Vendy and Tim Kennington.
C Grade saw the days biggest field take to the circuit, and the fast pace of their race meant escape was unlikely. At the finish, it was one for the old boys, as Veteran John Pritchard lead out a long way from home and just held on ahead of Milo Answerth, Danny Weatherley and Boon Chia.
Sally Robbins won the D Grade race with a good sprint after 40 minutes of racing. Training at the Blackburn Track must have something to offer as her training partner Daniel Mayberry followed her home, with young guitar virtuoso Kieran Murphy taking 3rd after a musical off season ahead of the Veteran John Groves.
A Grade - 45 minutes + 3 laps 1 Thaddeus Roos (Bicycle Superstore) 2 Warren Knevitt (O'Mara Cycles) 3 John Claxton (Melbourne Bicycle Centre) 4 Dean Johnstone (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) B Grade + 45 minutes + 3 laps 1 Michael Ford (O'Mara Cycles) 2 Ian Smith (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Damien Vendy (Bendigo CC) 4 Tim Kennington (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) C Grade + 40 minutes + 3 laps 1 John Pritchard (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 2 Graeme Answerth (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 3 Danny Weatherley (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC) 4 Boon Chia (SKCC) D Grade + 40 minutes + 3 laps 1 Sally Robbins (Broadford-Seymour CC) 2 Daniel Mayberry (Blackburn CC) 3 Kieran Murphy (CBD Cycles) 4 John Groves (Balance Carnegie Caulfield CC)
The punters might have stumbling out of Randwick racecourse after a long day at the races for the Melbourne Cup, but the real money on the 2nd Tuesday evening in November was down the road at sign on for Tuesday night racing at Heffron Park - the race that doesn't stop for anything.
Over 70 riders lined up to compete in the 3 grade handicap which is run over 15 laps of the challenging 2km Heffron Pk circuit and almost always in hot and windy conditions. Tonight's blustery 25 knot north easterly was no excpetion.
B grade got off to good start and were able to make good ground on the 30 strong C grade bunch and had C grade in their sights with 6 laps to go. At the same time the 16 strong A grade bunch were closing on B grade, but the speed and windy conditions had obviously taken its toll, as only 6 A grade riders were left when the race came together for the 3 lap finale.
Stewart 'Computer' Campbell stamped his authority on the race by pulling off one of his trademark 55km/h length of the straight turns, which left only 6 riders in the hunt for line honours, however Aaron Castles and Paul Kelly, 2 C grade escapees, were still 500m ahead at the bell and easily maintained their lead to take line honours.
In the last lap scramble, 16 year old Shaun Higgerson showed his impressive speed and improving class to ride away from the remaining A grade group, taking comeback kid, Jose Rodrigues with him who claimed 3rd. Liam Kelly claimed 5th spot from Computer and John Sunde backed up last week's ride with another B grade win.
1 Aaron Castles (Randwick Botany) 2 Paul Kelly (Sydney) 3 Jose Rodrigues (Easts) 4 Shaun Higgerson (Randwick Botany) 5 Liam Kelly (Easts) First B Grader 1 John Sunde (St George) First C Grader 1 David Bowden (Easts)
By Phil Ruge
A smaller field of 21 riders turned out to compete in the weekly road race conducted by the Murwillumbah Amateur Cycle Club on Saturday 3 November 2001.
The shorter Upper Crystal Creek course was on offer again this week. This course covers 46 kilometres and takes riders to Chillingham and then to Upper Crystal Creek before returning to finish at Dulguigan. Undulating roads which are both narrow and rough in parts add to the challenge of this particular course.
In view of the smaller number of riders a handicap format was used for the race. Three groups of riders set off at go and then 7 minutes and a further 6 minutes respectively. The go group included Mike McCall who was on his first race back after holidays whilst the second group included John Anderson who was returning to racing after a break of almost a year from the sport.
The go group set off at a good pace and with all riders willing to share the work they made the most of the favourable tailwind out to Chillingham. Both of the following groups also made the most of these good conditions to have a brisk run over this part of the course.
The go group had a lead of 4:30 coming out of Chillingham and set about maintaining a quick pace into Upper Crystal Creek. Their consistent efforts paid off as their lead remained at 4 minutes at the turn around over the next group with the scratch group only a couple of minutes further back.
A gusty headwind made the homeward leg of the race difficult but again consistent efforts by riders in the leading group kept the pace up and helped to maintain their lead on the chasing groups. A little further back the scratch bunch were steadily gaining ground on the 7 minute group with all riders working hard to bridge the gap. Their efforts finally paid off when these two groups came together with only a kilometre or so left to race.
However, it was too late at this stage as the go group had managed to hang on to their lead and had already fought out the finish. In the sprint to the line Stuart McPherson overtook several riders to be first home with Mike McCall in second spot, Phil Ruge third and junior rider Matthew Brown taking a creditable fourth place in only his fourth race with the club!
The larger group hit the line at a cracking pace with young Scott McConnell taking fastest time for the scratch bunch and Stuart Chambers getting fastest time for the 7 minute group.
Upper Crystal Creek Handicap - 46 km Overall/D Grade 1 Stuart MacPherson (Murwillumbah) 1.20.00 (34.6 km/h) 2 Mike McCall (Murwillumbah) 3 Phil Ruge (Murwillumbah) 4 Matthew Brown (Murwillumbah) J Fastest Time C Grade 1 Stuart Chambers (Murwillumbah) 1.17.00 (36 km/h) Fastest Time A Grade 1 Scott McConnell (Murwillumbah) 1.12.00 (38.5 km/h)
Forty-two riders turned out for the second of the Caesar's Illawarra Cycle Club summer criteruim series at Warilla on Sunday morning, November 4.
A Grade
Rob Calladine attacked on the first lap was to set the scene for the 30 minute plus three laps A grade
race with a series of breakaways involving much of the field. At 13 minutes the field was back together
again however only two laps later a breakaway by Garth Hennessy, which also saw Adam Rourke jump across,
was not to caught. Veteran John Groom teamed up with promising junior Luke Dale to chase for what seemed
like an eternity until Dale punctured. Dale managed to get back in the race and continued the chase with
Tim Morris and Danny Hennessy while at 25 minutes the remainder of the bunch was lapped by Garth Hennessy
and Rourke.
Judges had to rely on Dennis Fitzgerald's experience to determine the correct finish procedure. The bell lap for the bunch sprint was signaled a lap early so that the two leaders could sprint alone on the last lap, however this was not understood by Rourke, who sprinted with the bunch a lap early, handing the victory to Garth Hennessy. Adam was not pleased but accepted the judges' call without complaint, in his usual sportsmanlike manner. A lonely John Groom took third.
B Grade
Fourteen riders started in the B grade 25 minutes plus three laps race and immediately the pace was high.
Marcus Arnold was first to test the bunch by rolling off the front. This was the first of four attempts
by Arnold to get away. Every time someone attacked, the rest of the field stretched out like elastic.
Grant Law was overheard saying his legs were burning just before he successfully rode across the gap to
Lionel Covington who had attacked two laps earlier at 20 minutes, putting 30 metres onto the bunch.
Covington, who felt obliged to work with Law, didn't have enough to stay away and dropped back to the
bunch. At 25 minutes with three laps to, Law didn't look like being caught so the bunch began setting itself
up for the sprint finish, except for Adam Hotchkiss who attacked assuring himself second place. Kirk Brown
won the bunch sprint from Jason Johnson for third and fourth.
C Grade
Twenty minutes plus three laps gave nearly all of the eleven C grade starters an opportunity to put
pressure on the rest of the field. At ten minutes only eight riders were left. Al McClelland and Paul
Dubois were noticeable on the front along with Mark Owen and Andrew Telford. Always present at the front
but never closer than third wheel was Rebecca Borgo. With three laps to go the pace slowly intensified.
It was clear Rebecca had been saving herself and with 200 metres to go she came through for a turn and
won the bunch sprint from Carlo Paola and Paul Dubois.
Next weeks race is a 27.5 km handicap with group nine providing marshalls.
A Grade 1 Garth Hennessy 2 Adam Rourke 3 John Groom 4 Tim Morris 5 Hardy Lohse 6 Mal Haigh 7 Peter Jones 8 Luke Dale 9 Danny Hennessy B Grade 1 Grant Law 2 Adam Hotchkiss 3 Kirk Brown 4 Jason Johnson C Grade 1 Rebecca Borgo 2 Carlo Paola 3 Paul Dubois 4 Alan McClelland 5 Andy Shannon 6 Mark Owen 7 Peter Vesel 8 Andrew Telford
by John Buckton, Randwick Botany CC Club President
The recent warm weather took a bit of a holiday and rain clouds hovered menacingly above. This did not deter the intrepid Heffron Park stalwarts however, who are forever ready to endure the sudden climactic changes so typical of the Heffron Park criterium circuit, where the wind seems to blow twice as strong as everywhere else all year round.
Racing was, as always, exiting. In the combined A/B handicap, A Graders Stewart Campbell, Liam Kelly and Peter Reid worked hard to gain back the one lap start that they gave to B Grade. Although they gave it everything they had, they were only able to claw back two minutes and as such were one minute behind on the bell lap. There were plenty of attacks in B grade which kept the pace extremely high and made it that bit harder for A grade to bridge the gap. Todd Sinclair was able to get a bit of a break on the B grade bunch and cruised home for a comfortable win. The minor placings were fought out over an exiting sprint finish with Michael Cori just piping Aaron Castles into third place. First A grader home was Liam Kelly with Stewart Campbell right on his wheel. The average speed of B grade was quite fast at 39.8 km/h and even though the three A grade riders were able to work well together and achieve an average speed of 41.5 km/h, it was just not enough to catch the fast charging B graders.
Nineteen riders lined up for the C Grade 30km race. The average speed was contested, with Randwick Botany rider Shaun Ballesty leading out the final sprint. Shaun started to die just towards the end allowing Brad Lane with a well timed sprint to just come over the top of Shaun. So too did Peter McRorie with Shaun holding on for third spot.
In an exciting D Grade sprint finish, Peter Davison was just too strong for junior rider David Jenkins-Flint. All that track training that Peter has been doing is obviously paying off. David held on for second place with Ron Sproule coming in third.
Club Junior Development Officer Peter Zala conducted some interesting events for the 16 junior riders including a team time trial event and four individual1 lap time trials with short rest period between them. The interesting aspect that was that many of the juniors did their fastest time on the fourth run. The fastest time of the B Grade riders was recorded by Thomas Murdoch. Thomas recorded his fastest time on his third run. Second fastest time of 3.50 was recorded by Thom Richards. Thom recorded his fastest time equally on his first and final run with the second and third runs being slightly slower.
Randwick Botany Cycling Club conducts club racing every Saturday at Heffron Park, Maroubra NSW. Juniors start at 1.30pm and Seniors 2.30pm. For more information please contact the club secretary Helen Vella on 02 9667 3307.
A & B Grade Handicap - A 34 km, B 32 km 1 Todd Sinclair 48.42 2 Michael Cori 3 Aaron Castles First A grade rider: Liam Kelly C Grade - 1 Brad Lane 50.21 2 Peter McRorie 3 Shaun Ballesty D Grade - 20km 1 Peter Davison 37.13 2 David Jenkins-Flint 3 Ron Sproule E Grade - 16km 1 Peter Bolan 32.48 2 Norman Jew 3 Ken Woodhouse Junior A Grade - 12 km team time trail 1 Robert Cater 18.50 1 Chris Jenkins Junior B Grade - 12 km team time trail 1 Keegan Aitchison 22.04 1 Chris Young 1 Luke Cridland Junior A Grade - 4 km scratch race 1 Chris Jenkins 2 Robert Cater 3 Luke Cridland B Grade - 2 km time trial 1 Thomas Murdoch 3.43 2 Thom Richards 3.50 2 Andrew Young 4 Jono Cridland 3.52
By Rod Morris
Launceston based rider Ron Crawford showed good early season form at the Professional Cross Country Club of Tasmania's carnival on Sunday, November 4, which officially kicked off the Apple Isle's 2001-2002 series.
Crawford scored three solid wins, but victory eluded him in the major race of the day at Burnie's West Park, the Open 2000m Wheelrace. Instead that honour went to Devonport's Josh Simpson, riding from 180m when he edged out current Australia Day Wheelrace champ Jarrod Burr and the dangerous John Kingston.
Although many of the State's big guns were missing from the PCCCT Carnival, the events gave those cyclists who did make the effort, invaluable race-day practice prior to the feature carnivals around Christmas. Crawford's trifecta of wins included the 1000m Lightning Handicap, the 4000m B Grade Scratch and the Second Division Miss and Out.
Crawford also scored a second placing behind Kingston in the Open Keirin after disposing of some supposedly better riders along the way.
At junior level, Jason Bellchambers dominated the Under 17s, winning all three events on offer, while newcomer Angela Klyne suggested she may be a rider worth watching in the Under 15s and Thomas Robinson soured scratchman Alex Holden's day in the Under 13's with victory in the wheelrace.
The next major track cycling carnival on the State's calendar is the West Tamar Carnival at Exeter on November 24 followed the next day by the second round of the Tasmanian Criterium Championships in Launceston.
Open 2000m wheelrace 1 Josh Simpson 2 Jarrod Burr 3 John Kingston Open 1000m handicap 1 Ron Crawford 2 Simon Elliott 3 David Oliver A Grade scratch race - 6000m 1 Ryan Sullivan 2 Josh Simpson 3 Todd Parnell B Grade scratch race - 4000m 1 Ron Crawford 2 Kharne Hammersley 3 Trent Deacon Open keirin 1 John Kingston 2 Ron Crawford 3 Simon Elliott A Grade elimination 1 Dane Leedham 2 Todd Parnell 3 Ryan Johnson B Grade elimination 1 Ron Crawford 2 Louise Yaxley 3 Dwayne Smith Junior 1 scratch race - 4000m 1 Jason Bellchambers 2 Ty Winduss 3 Matthew Goss Junior 1 2000m wheelrace 1 Jason Bellchambers 2 Ty Winduss 3 Daniel Cameron Junior 1 1000m handicap 1 Jason Bellchambers 2 Ty Winduss 3 Ron Tregurtha Junior 2 scratch race - 3000m 1 Ben Fielding 2 Matthew Bonham 3 Will Robinson Junior 2 2000m wheelrace 1 Angela Klyne 2 Grace Sulzberger 3 Natasha Mapley Junior 2 1000m handicap 1 Matthew Bonham 2 Will Robinson 3 Angela Klyne Junior 3 scratch race - 2000m 1 Alex Holden 2 Thomas Robinson 3 Carrie Price Junior 3 1000m wheelrace 1 Thomas Robinson 2 Alex Holden 3 Carrie Price Junior 3 1000m handicap 1 Alex Holden 2 Carrie Price 3 Thomas Robinson